Online Monitoring of Pollution
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Posted On:
04 APR 2022 3:38PM by PIB Delhi
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) issued direction under Section 18(1)(b) of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 to all State Pollution Control Board (SPCBs)/ Pollution Control Committees (PCCs) to further direct industries for installation of online monitoring system in highly polluting 17 categories of industries/Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs)/ Biomedical facility/common hazardous waste facility.
Further, under section 5 of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, CPCB has also issued directions to all the industries falling under 17 categories of highly polluting industries to install online continuous emission/effluent monitoring system and ensure connectivity of data to SPCBs/PCCs and CPCB servers.
CPCB directed SPCBs/PCCs to issue closure directions to existing industries falling under 17 categories of industries and common treatment facilities, commissioned on or before 28.02.2017 if found operating without installation and connectivity of OCEMS. SPCBs/PCCs were also directed to incorporate a specific condition of installing and connecting OCEMS before start of operation in the Consent Order (CTO) of a newly established industry falling under 17 categories of industries and common treatment facilities, commissioned after 28.02.2017.
During 2014-2022, out of 4247 industrial units, 3535 industries have installed and connected OCEMS to CPCB and SPCB server. The closure directions for remaining 712 industries are still in-force. The purpose of the direction was to create self-regulation and monitoring by the industries themselves for complying with the stipulated standards. Sector-wise status regarding connectivity of OCEMS is attached at Annexure-I.
From these OCEMS, real-time values of environmental pollutants of trade effluent and emissions from industrial units are transmitted online to the server of CPCB and concerned SPCB/PCC on 24×7 basis. Central software processes the data and in case of value of pollutant parameter exceeds prescribed environmental norms, an automatic SMS alert is generated and sent to industrial unit, SPCB and CPCB, so that corrective measures can be taken by the industry immediately and appropriate action can be taken by concerned SPCB/PCC.
There are total 4,433 highly polluting 17-categories of industries in the country. Appropriate actions are taken against non-complying units. State-wise status of 17 categories of highly polluting industries is given at Annexure-II.
Government has taken various initiatives towards control of pollution caused by industrial sector which are as follow:
- Notification of industry-specific discharge standards under Schedule-I: ‘Standards for Emission or Discharge of Environmental Pollutants from various Industries’ of Environment Protection Act, 1986. SPCB and PCCs are mandated to ensure the compliance of these standards. So far, industry specific environmental standards, for about 80 industrial sectors, have been notified.
- The SPCBs/PCCs issue consent to establish/ consent to operate and authorization to the industries in the States. Also, the SPCBs/PCCs monitor the compliance of industrial emissions/effluent discharges and other operational activities according to the prescribed standards.
- Since 2016, CPCB has started inspection of 17 categories of highly polluting industries on the basis of SMS alerts generated on violation of effluent and emission standards. In case of non-compliance, action against industry is taken under provisions of Water Act, 1974, Air Act, 1981 and Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
- The criteria for categorization of industries has been revised and directed all SPCBs/PCCs to adopt the same. 254 industrial sectors are categorized into red (61), orange (90), green (65) and white (38) categories.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.
ANNEXURE – I
Sector-wise Status of Installation of OCEMS |
||||
S. No. |
Sector |
Total no. of targeted units for OCEMS installation |
Total No. of units installed OCEMS and connected with CPCB server |
Total No. of units against which closure directions u/s 5 of E(P)A, 1986 are in force |
1 |
Aluminium |
14 |
12 |
2 |
2 |
Cement |
394 |
301 |
93 |
3 |
Chloralkali |
33 |
33 |
0 |
4 |
Copper |
3 |
3 |
0 |
5 |
Distillery |
366 |
285 |
81 |
6 |
Dye & Dye Intermediates |
122 |
96 |
26 |
7 |
Fertilizer |
117 |
96 |
21 |
8 |
Iron & Steel |
424 |
358 |
66 |
9 |
Pesticide |
82 |
71 |
11 |
10 |
Petrochemical |
36 |
30 |
6 |
11 |
Pharmaceuticals |
774 |
673 |
101 |
12 |
Pulp & Paper |
307 |
245 |
62 |
13 |
Refinery |
23 |
23 |
0 |
14 |
Sugar |
646 |
498 |
148 |
15 |
Tannery |
458 |
417 |
41 |
16 |
Thermal Power Plant |
443 |
391 |
52 |
17 |
Zinc |
5 |
3 |
2 |
Total |
4247 |
3535 |
712 |
Annexure-II
Compliance Status of 17 Category of Industries |
|||||||
Sl. No. |
SPCB/PCC |
Total no. of industries |
No. of industries closed by their own |
No. of industries operational |
No. of industries complying with environmental standards |
No. of industries non-complying with environmental standards |
No. of industries against which action is taken for non-complying with environmental standards |
1 |
Andaman & Nicobar |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
Andhra Pradesh |
296 |
34 |
262 |
234 |
28 |
28 |
3 |
Arunachal Pradesh |
5 |
0 |
5 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
Assam |
51 |
11 |
40 |
36 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
Bihar |
43 |
26 |
17 |
17 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
Chandigarh |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
Chhattisgarh |
163 |
20 |
143 |
137 |
6 |
6 |
8 |
Daman & Diu |
3 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
Delhi |
3 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
Goa |
15 |
2 |
13 |
12 |
1 |
1 |
11 |
Gujarat |
517 |
76 |
441 |
344 |
97 |
97 |
12 |
Haryana |
174 |
8 |
166 |
161 |
5 |
5 |
13 |
Himachal Pradesh |
21 |
3 |
18 |
18 |
0 |
0 |
14 |
Jammu & Kashmir |
55 |
0 |
55 |
52 |
3 |
3 |
15 |
Jharkhand |
81 |
2 |
79 |
54 |
25 |
25 |
16 |
Karnataka |
246 |
47 |
199 |
184 |
15 |
15 |
17 |
Kerala |
25 |
5 |
20 |
20 |
0 |
0 |
18 |
Lakshadweep |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
19 |
Madhya Pradesh |
96 |
5 |
91 |
88 |
3 |
3 |
20 |
Maharashtra |
506 |
32 |
474 |
434 |
40 |
40 |
21 |
Manipur |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
22 |
Meghalaya |
23 |
1 |
22 |
21 |
1 |
1 |
23 |
Mizoram |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
24 |
Nagaland |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
25 |
Odisha |
186 |
43 |
143 |
126 |
17 |
17 |
26 |
Puducherry |
7 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
27 |
Punjab |
98 |
22 |
76 |
71 |
5 |
5 |
28 |
Rajasthan |
197 |
13 |
184 |
181 |
3 |
3 |
29 |
Sikkim |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
30 |
Tamil Nadu |
239 |
41 |
198 |
194 |
4 |
4 |
31 |
Telangana |
344 |
47 |
297 |
268 |
29 |
29 |
32 |
Tripura |
5 |
0 |
5 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
33 |
Uttar Pradesh |
855 |
196 |
659 |
646 |
13 |
13 |
34 |
Uttarakhand |
46 |
0 |
46 |
42 |
4 |
4 |
35 |
West Bengal |
131 |
34 |
97 |
73 |
24 |
24 |
|
Total |
4433 |
675 |
3758 |
3430 |
328 |
328 |
******
AS/IG